Notes on Milton's Nativity Ode. 329 



61. peaceful. The suggestion may have come from the Apoc- 

 ryphal IVisdom of Solomon 18. 14, 15 : ' For while all things were 

 in quiet silence, and that night was in the midst of her swift course, 

 thine almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal 

 throne.' This was adapted in the Antiphon for the Magnificat for 

 the Sunday before the Octave of Chri.stmas. The influence of the 

 passage upon Mantuan's companion-picture (1. 70b) is evident: 



Attulerat medio nox alta silentia cursu, 

 Astraque per tenebras tremulis ardentia flammis 

 Lustrabant dubio frigentum lumine terram. 



See also Sannazaro, Part. Virg. 2. 309 ff. 



62. Prince of Light. One almost expects ' Prince of Peace ' 

 (Isa. 9. 6). The substitution is artistically made. In Christian Latin 

 poetry we have Aiictor lucis, and in Old English there are similar 

 expressions: Azar. 121, 129, etc. Christ is often designated as light: 

 Lk. 2. 32; John 1. 7 ff. ; 8. 12; 9. 5; 12. 35 fl"., 46. 



64. wonder. Plutarch remarks of the halcyon : ' There is not any 

 other creature for which man has so great an affection, seeing that 

 for her sake,' etc. This notion of the winds deferring to the halcyon 

 is here adapted, so that they now are calm out of deference to 

 the coming of Christ. 



whist. Hushed. Shakespeare uses the word similarly, Temp. 

 1. 1. 378-9: 



Curtsied when 3'ou have, and kissed 

 The wild waves whist. 



Todd cites Marlowe, Dido 4. 1. 25: 



The air is clear, and southern winds are whist. 



The onomatopoeia of 64—66 is noticeable. 



65. Smoothly. Perhaps with some suggestion of the predicate 

 adjective of result, as if, ' kissed the waters smooth,' like the ' strucken 

 mute ' of P.L. 9. 1064. Milton is apparently under the influence of 

 the construction in Shakespeare's ' kissed the wild waves whist.'' 

 This view receives some countenance from Jebb's ' oscula fluctibus 

 dantes quietis^ though this, of course, is rather ' kissed the smooth 

 waters.' Cf charmed., 68. 



66. Whispering. So P.L. 8. 515-6, 



fresh gales and gentle airs 

 Whispered it to the woods. 



Cf P.L. 4. 158. 



